Dark Souls - A Brutal and Relentless Action/RPG Horror Title.

There's a game out there that is so difficult, so merciless and unforgiving of mistakes or poor planning and so punishing of failure that I'm almost afraid to play it. I am, of course, talking about Dark Souls, the action RPG that is as much an exercise in masochism as it is a hardcore gaming experience. Dark Souls is a sequel to Demon's Souls, an earlier game that I completely missed when it came out in 2009 because it was a PS3 exclusive and I draw the line at two consoles I rarely play. Dark Souls was released by Namco Bandai Games in the US on October 4^th for both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360, and the relentless blend of action and frustration provides an answer to the gamers who believe that quicksaves and infinite lives have made gamers soft. This is clearly not a game for everyone, as people who want a more casual experience to relax and unwind will no doubt be very, very frustrated with this game, because it kills you the instant you let your guard down. And then it kills you again, and again, and some more, until you wonder if the game is mocking you.

Expect your character to die several times before you even get the package open.

If you are thinking "That doesn't sound like much fun," one thing I neglected to mention is that despite the relentless, even punishing, difficulty... the game is (almost) never cheap or unfair. Every death is due to a mistake in either choice of weapon, where and when to fight an opponent, or just plain old-fashioned not being careful enough. The setting starts out without a massive amount of background information or plot to get you going, as the world is corrupted and all but lost to the demonic hordes, and your motivation is simple: destroy evil. Dark Souls, unlike its predecessor, is an open-world game, with freedom left to the player to go in whichever direction they believe they can survive, with no indication of where that might be, as death waits around every corner. Every time you die, you learn something new. Death is a strict teacher who shows you your mistakes immediately and demands perfection, and the lessons are well-learned.

The combat system rewards care, patience and selection of the correct tools for the job, whether that is a nasty two-handed weapon, heavy armor and shield for defense, or magical abilities, all are available to the player but none will suffice in every situation. You cannot gain enough magical power to run through sections of the game blowing things up at will, and you will find the predictable result of trying is, of course, another death. When you die, you lose your corporeal form and your collected souls, which are used to upgrade your character and equipment, and you respawn as undead... with half a health bar. Get back to your corpse, and you can retrieve what you've lost. Checkpoints come in the form of bonfires which can be lit to rest and make camp, but when you rest, the foes you have defeated rise again, meaning use of a checkpoint is a strategic choice.

The beacon fire. A place to rest and reflect on what lessons repeatedly dying has taught you.

On its surface, Dark Souls is a single player experience, but online play has been incorporated into the experience in several unique ways in keeping with the themes of the game world. First, it is possible to leave scrawled messages for other players in certain sections of the game, though whether you choose to heed the warnings or suspect they might have been left by a player trying to lead you to a quick death is up to you. The spirits of other players can occasionally be glimpsed moving through the same sections of gameplay as you are working your way through, seeing these damned souls in action reminds you of the consequence of failure. You can also summon spirits of other players for co-op play, but who is brought into your game world is random and communication with your spectral ally is extremely limited, a very different experience from loading a game and jumping in with people from your friends list. Also be warned that PVP players may, while you are in your living form, invade your game to assassinate you to regain their own form. In practice, you'll spend so much time as undead that this won't happen very often, but it is not optional or consensual, further adding to the danger for players who are doing well.

So much more of the game is meant to be discovered through play that I feel it would be a disservice to spoil it in a review here, but I can mention in passing a few other features. Despite being thrown into the world with only a very basic understanding of what is going on, that doesn't mean there is no lore or story going on in the game. By design, the player must earn tidbits by peeling away at the surface of this fantasy/horror world, and not telling you too much all at once helps keep the disturbing and disorienting tone of the place intact. For replay value, there is the covenant system. Without spoiling too much, I can say that covenants are the combination of faction/guild and alignment system in the game, and joining one will significantly change the play experience beyond the typical "good" or "evil" playthroughs in other RPGs. Every covenant comes with its own advantages and price to pay for membership, and some may make sections of the game easier or harder, or affect objectives.

Breathtaking environments and deadly foes are literally around every corner.

Is this a good game? The graphics are gorgeous, most reviews agree that the gameplay is incredibly tough, but in a fair sort of way barring one or two scenes that drift close to unfairness. The starting class is more like declaring a play philosophy than committing to a single set of options, as weapons, armor and abilities can be swapped out as needed to progress. If you are the sort of gamer eager to overcome challenges and believe firmly that modern games are too easy, this may just be the game for you. If dying over and over until you struggle toward the goal of hitting a beacon sounds too much like inflicting pain on yourself because it feels so good when you stop, I'd give this one a pass.

Fair Warning: I mentioned here that I planned to take a week off from posting as I get adjusted to a full-time job again, I plan to take that week from 10/15 through 10/22, so my vacation starts... now.

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Blog Gadgets

Free To Play Again: A Look at Rusty Hearts and Puzzle Pirates.

Now and again, I check out the world of Free to Play MMORPGs. In years past, I'd have to rely on directories dedicated to the topic and download from a link to the individual game's website. Now, there is a growing Free to Play category on Steam, and I periodically check out the offerings there. What I look for in a game like this is, naturally, the same gameplay that I would like from a commercial/retail priced game. Of course, I expect that there will be both an in-game currency of some sort and a premium currency that can be purchased with real-world dollars, as these games are financed by the players who decide to buy something. I evaluate a F2P game on whether the options purchasable only with premium currency are neat options, or whether they are essential parts of the game. Games that provide too many in-game benefits for premium gear are "pay to win," and with too much content sealed off behind a paywall, the game isn't so much "free" as it is a glorified demo, shareware in disguise. With these criteria in mind, I've spent some time with two more games now available on Steam, Puzzle Pirates and Rusty Hearts.

Puzzle Pirates:

Towns, islands and decks of ships may get crowded, but you can pretty much teleport
 somewhere else if you aren't having fun.

This isn't my first time playing Puzzle Pirates, as the game has been around since 2003 and shortly after release I gave it a try. Three Rings Design has continued to add new puzzles and gameplay refinements over the years, and Steam support got me back in to see what had changed. Your character is a scurvy dog who looks like he/she escaped from a Playmobil collection and you are dropped into a world where virtually every task that can be performed is done so with a puzzle game. Players can work on or even own ships, become merchants, and attack other vessels or search for buried treasure. Back on islands, shops, inns and homes are owned and operated by players and working or playing in one of the many different buildings opens up new puzzles. Getting into swordfights, fisticuffs or drinking contests with other players have puzzle games all their own, and gambling on more traditional games like poker, spades or hearts can make or break a bucaneer's fortunes.

There's a lot of free content, with the basic puzzles to operate a ship available for free, including sailing, rigging, cannon operation, carpentry and bilge pumping. In-game currency is measured in pieces of eight, frequently abbreviated as "poe" and this money can be earned working ships for the NPC Navy or jobbing as temporary crew on a player-owned ship. Owning a ship, working a shop, or playing most parlor games are among the many activities that require a special badge purchasable with doubloons, the premium currency. Some of the locked away content is available to freeplayers daily, and many, many hours of entertainment can be had without spending a dime. Puzzle Pirates also gets major points from me on making premium currency purchasable with in-game money at a player-driven market exchange. Players can also join crews that may operate one or more vessels to launch their own expeditions, and buy custom furniture for player housing.

One of the many challenging cooperative or competitive puzzles representing labor in Puzzle Pirates.

As a character plays more of the puzzles well, skill levels in each of the games is tracked on a permanent profile. Characters can be visually customized with clothing and weapons that can be earned in-game or purchased with either poe or doubloons. Weapons can be used to make custom strikes in the swordfighting competitive puzzle, which is reminiscent of tetris, and is the last part of boarding actions taken when ships get into naval battles. Fist fighting is handled in a minigame that plays a lot like Bust-a-Move, with colored bubbles filling up the top of the screen that need to be "popped" by bubbles of the same color fired by a cannon from the bottom. Many of the puzzles are variants on popular puzzle games like Bejeweled, Dr. Mario, and Rocket Mania, with a piratey theme. I've won enough to buy a ship playing poker in a seedy tavern, brewed beer and clashed swords after a voyage spent cleaning and loading cannons or pumping seawater from the hold.

Rusty Hearts:

For now, you'd better like these three if you want to play Rusty Hearts, because even with customization, this is pretty much it... sometimes these guys will be wearing an afro or sunglasses, but little else changes.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the beat-em-up Anime MMORPG Rusty Hearts. Currently in beta from Perfect World Entertainment, Rusty Hearts is set in a moody gothic gaslamp horror anime where mercenaries fight vampires and demons in the service to a psuedo-military organization. The cutscenes providing the backdrop for the world, as well as the environments themselves are very pretty. The story and dialogue options are appropriately hokey and translated about as well as any standard anime series or video game. As of this article, you select as your base one of three characters, so in public areas in low-level zones, everyone looks pretty much the same. The dour swordsman Frantz, the foul-mouthed witches' apprentice Angela and the wanderer-turned brawler Tude are the three currently playable characters, but there is a fourth in the works.

The gameplay is fairly smooth, with various special attacks unlocked and trained as characters level up, and basic attacking, grab/counter, block and combo maneuvers make gamplay feel more like an arcade fighter like Double Dragon or Golden Axe than a typical RPG. Monsters drop equipment and potions as well as cards which randomly are hidden in a grid of rewards the player can blindly choose from when a dungeon is cleared. Players are ranked at the end of a level based on combo length and special move use (style) compared to how many hits they take, to get a letter grade that affects rewards at the end of a stage. Gamepad support is present, and recommended to save wear on the keyboard, but customizing keybinds for gamepad leaves something to be desired. Unlocking harder difficulties opens up cooperative adventures suitable for a party, with rewards matching the extra challenge.

Boss fights feature tougher opponents and more complex strategies than the standard
chaining of special abilities and occasionally blocking.

If you can deal with every player being copies of the same three people all over the place, in addition to new skills and better equipment, eventually costume pieces can be unlocked to give individual characters a custom look. The fast route to these cosmetic modifications is premium currency purchased through the cash shop, but some costume pieces can be earned by questing or bought with in-game money. Players who don't care about the appearance of their personal characters will find that most of the game is free, cash shop items having very little impact on game power. There is also a PVP arena, a guild system and customizable personal quarters, plus a game bank and player auction house. The difficulty scales very well with how much time a player wishes to put in, so a solo/casual player has a good experience as well as the more involved players interested in partying up and tackling tougher adventures.

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Blog Gadgets

Bastion – Indie Action RPG that is not to be missed.

I'd heard an awful lot about Bastion, and had a hard time understanding what all the fuss was about. This past weekend, I finally finished the title, and I get it. Bastion was first released a downloadable game, the sort of indie title you see all over Xbox Live Arcade, and it got rave reviews, and eventually made its way to PC via Steam, where it was a featured release. Some of the initial gimmicks are apparent from the demo, but Bastion is a game that continues giving based on what you put in, and most of the best of the game is left for the end. This bucks a trend I've commented on at length, where so many games focus on a strong opening and great buildup, and then cannot pay off the narrative, so they kind of "phone in" the ending. In Bastion, a gamer with a short attention span will miss out on something that I can call beautiful without fear of hyperbole.

Don't mind the anime-look or cartoon styling. There is nothing about
this game that I'd associate with any flavor of animation beyond visual design.

At the beginning of Bastion, your character wakes up from a post on a wall somewhere to find the world destroyed around him. We know this because as the world and controls are introduced, a narrator's voice tells us what is going on, describing the hero's actions (calling him only "the kid") as they happen. The narration changes based on actions performed, and the exceptional quality of the voice acting delivering the over 3,000 recorded lines gives a lot of the emotional weight to what might otherwise be a decent, but unspectacular, action-RPG hybrid. As the kid walks through the ruins of his shattered world, bits of the ground form up under his feet where he's about to walk. A few basic weapons are found, and we start to get into the heart of the gameplay.

PC controls are pretty simple, left-click for melee attacks, right click for ranged, tap the space bar to roll out of the way of danger, and hold shift to block with a shield or lock on to a target. WASD moves you around, the mouse controls targetting and the E key is typically used to pick up items or interact with the environment. The kid carries around blue tonics to restore health, activated with F, and black tonics to power his special skills, activated with Q. There are a lot of different melee weapons, ranged weapons and special skills to find and unlock throughout the game, and different combinations may make certain sections of the game easier. In addition to finding weapons and abilities, each weapon can be upgraded with items found throughout gameplay and "shards" of the shattered world. Passive bonuses such as extra damage, more tonics or higher movement speed while blocking are chosen for slots that open up as the kid gains levels.

Static screenshots really don't do this world justice, it must be seen in motion.

All of these upgrades are processed through buildings which can be constructed, and yes, upgraded at the Bastion, a floating home base/sanctuary that was to be used in case of disaster. Each structure can be built upon completion of a level, and the player chooses which order to build many of them in. Combat and exploration is fast-paced and fun, and character advancement and customization integrates well with the theme of rebuilding a world piece by piece. If this was all Bastion had to offer, it'd still be a pretty good game for the $15USD price tag. These elements are probably the least of the reasons I like this game. Gameplay is great, but what gets me is a good story, well told, and though it takes a bit to get rolling, this game has that.

The story is revealed bit by bit in the narration, details left out in earlier scenes explained a bit at a time at a perfect pace to match the tone of the game. The combination of the art design of the levels, the tone of the script and history of the world that was Caelondia before The Calamity, and what it has become creates a unique and internally consistent setting. Bits of character development for the principal characters are earned, line by line in dreamlike sequences where the kid fights wave after wave of creatures, each wave rewarded with another part of the story for the character we're learning about. The music, in particular the pieces with vocals, add to the atmosphere, and the soundtrack is amazing on its own merits. Some of the best scenes in the entire game owe their impact in large part to the music playing in the background.

Once the reasons behind everything that has happened, from The Calamity to events that unfold as the game progresses (which I won't spoil here) are revealed, the game pulls off a really neat trick. Games love presenting players with choices, especially difficult ones. The problem is, it is not easy to write a set of meaningful decisions without either one choice being obviously better in some way, or making the decision difficult by virtue of all presented options being things you'd rather not do. I hate it when games do this. It is poor writing to make a choice only meaningful because I need to choose between two things that are approximately equally unpleasant. Bastion has one of the most thought-provoking and difficult "Would you rather?" choices I've ever encountered to make at the very end, and another choice where you have to decide between someone getting perhaps what they deserve, and doing what is noble at great potential cost to yourself. Both of these situations are brilliantly crafted, and the payoff for making either choice made for an ending that had me smiling throughout the credits.

This is not a particularly expensive game, nor is it a 40-hour epic, but there is a decent amount of replay value, for at least one more go-round, and there are plenty of Steam achievements and ways to customize the difficulty (for greater reward) in-game. Collecting, achieving and unlocking everything possible will make this a hefty amount of content for a game that is a quarter of the price of a typical new release. Solid action, incredible story, and a game that manages to be beautiful and at some points kind of sad, while making the player think about the questions posed by the story... This one is a winner.

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Blog Gadgets

Savage Worlds Deluxe and the Adventure Deck – Power to the Players.

I've had a copy of the newest edition of Savage Worlds for a few weeks now, and having read it and used the rules changes as a GM in sessions of two different campaigns, I feel I can finally give it a proper review. I've talked about Savage Worlds before, so if you missed that article and need the basics on this system in general, you'll find my overview here. First off, I'd like to mention the various editions of the system. None of them are numbered, and the changes between editions are in some cases fairly subtle. No mechanical change between editions is as dramatic as, say, between 2nd and 3rd edition D&D. Savage Worlds Deluxe is the fourth published edition of the system, incorporating mechanical changes and edges from various Savage settings. The four editions of the rules were the first edition (2003,) Revised (2004,) Explorer's Edition (2007,) and now Deluxe published in the summer of 2011. Some mechanics have remained the same throughout (many edges, mass battles) while some have changed with nearly every single incarnation of the rules (the vehicle/chase system.) How does Deluxe hold up for those of us who already purchased two $30USD hardcovers and a $10USD paperback?

Of all the covers, I think I like the new edition's the best.

The basics: we're back to the more expensive hardcover edition after the significantly less expensive small paperback rulebook from Explorer's Edition. The rulebook features a full-color interior, and the binding on the books is solid (something I had an issue with in my Explorer's Edition, which is still shedding pages.) There are a few pages running down a few of the more popular Savage settings at the beginning of the book, so a new player isn't quite so baffled by a book which is generic mechanics without a specific world to tie them to. The various sections of the book are laid out logically, properly indexed, and with sections marked at the tops of pages for easy reference. It is also worth mentioning that there is a lot less recycled interior art than one would expect from a system with so many different books to draw on. Most of the art, I'd never seen before, and it is all top-notch.  At various points there are "Design Notes" explaining the thinking behind a certain mechanic, which is helpful for players considering making adjustments for house rules.

In character creation, many edges that were first introduced in a particular Savage setting book and that would be useful in many settings have been incorporated into the core rules. In addition, there are quite a few new edges and the "sacred cow" of background edges only being able to be purchased at character creation has finally been slaughtered. Many background edges may still require in-game explanation of why someone has suddenly become wealthy, attractive or gifted with magical powers, but the system no longer forbids this sort of character development. Character Archetypes, pre-built to play a particular role with a little room for customization are now included, a bonus for novice players or those in a hurry. There are also many more sample races to choose from, as well as a point-based system for designing new races and ensuring they are at least somewhat balanced.

The race creation rules are pretty much directly out of  the Slipstream
Savage setting, where they were used to create new alien races in a "Flash Gordon" sort of sci-fi.

Many of the mechanical tweaks to the core rules patch over things that didn't quite work in previous editions, such as rules on healing. Characters are now limited to one attempted healing per set of wounds, magical or mundane, per character attempting to heal. Wounds left over after these attempts have been exhausted can only be healed naturally, or with very powerful healing magic (greater heal.) This mitigates the feeling that so long as someone isn't outright killed or crippled in combat, that being beaten badly has no consequence in a setting with any level of magical healing. The other sub-system that was awkward as written in every previous edition is vehicle chases and combats. Designed to handle car chases, aerial dogfights and pirate ships blasting at each other in the same system, the newest chase rules are streamlined and abstracted where appropriate, eliminating a lot of common weirdness in previous chases under old rules. It is much less likely for vehicles to feel like they are "teleporting" about with regard to relative position, and a skilled pilot/driver is no longer capable of instantly escaping a pursuing foe in a faster vehicle with a lucky skill total alone.

The other major change to the system is the addition of interludes. Interludes are moments for dedicated bits of storytelling in quiet moments, when a character is called upon to talk about their background for a bit, based on one of four broad topics based on the suit of a card flip. This allows players to delve into bits about events that made their characters who they are as part of the story instead of only on a sheet of paper that likely only themselves and the GM will ever see. As a reward for the bit of impromptu roleplay, the player who is selected for the interlude gets a bonus benny or draw from the Adventure Deck, something that I recommend be used if you are playing with interludes (back to that in just a bit.) These rules may have to be ignored for groups that have one or more players uncomfortable with the idea of beiing put "on the spot," but in the case of my SW games, players have been eager for the opportunity for a little extra roleplay that is all about their characters with a distinct reward for doing so.

A sample card from the Savage Adventure Deck.

Then there is the adventure deck. I'd toyed with the idea of using this before, as I love the Drama Deck from TORG, and there are a lot of similarities here. Fair warning: some of the advenure deck cards are POWERFUL, even more powerful than legendary edges, and some of the cards bestow extra experience or permanent magic items, so think carefully about incorporating them into your campaign. I printed the deck from PDF, as well as the custom deck additions for Deadlands and Rippers for when I run those games, and have run a session of each with them. We've had interesting magical items, "save our butt" cards played when cruel dice might have otherwise flat killed characters, and interesting and appropriate moments of insight into monster weaknesses that enhanced the sessions I played with these cards. Without a custom edge for a second card play, each player gets one to play per session, and draws one card per rank to choose from. The benefits of using the cards far outweight the power creep or occasional plot short-circuit the more powerful cards make possible.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the newest edition of the rules, and have pretty much converted all of my campaigns to their use. The lone holdout I maintain from earlier editions in my games is the wound table that makes the severity of the "knockout blow" when a Wild Card is incapacitated the most important factor inhow badly injured they are. I don't like that a character that falls to a pile of lesser wounds can flat die from a poor vigor roll (as they are likely out of bennies to even be in that situation) and a crushing blow causing 40+ damage from a giant's club is no more dangerous than a lucky jab with a kobold's pointy stick to an already wounded character. The adventure deck scales nicely with high-level play, and I'm glad to have a working chase system for cars and ships. The new book even has a few sample "one sheet" adventures, though they are the same ones that can be downloaded from the Pinnacle website. To my way of thinking, the new edition was certainly worth another 30 bucks.

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Blog Gadgets

Build a Better GM Challenge - Unemployed Geek Edition.

Today's article is in response to a challenge posted over at Hill Cantons to RPG Bloggers, to detail three things that those of us who write about tabletop roleplaying games do well as Gamemasters in our home campaigns. While this blog isn't an “RPG blog,” per se, one of the topics I write about with some frequency is the tabletop RPG. One of the goals of this challenge is to share knowledge and insight in a sort of collective “workshop” for people trying to sharpen their skills with regard to running a game for others. So, in order to present my entry to “Build a Better GM,” I'll share a few things that I have learned over the years. Gamemasters are part narrator, part referee, and in most systems the ultimate arbiter of the world and how the characters the players have created can interact with it. Good GMs provide the players with an arena for drama and set the stage for telling their own adventures. Bad GMs enter into a competition with the players, one rigged in their favor. Everyone who runs games has their own strengths, and weak points, and some of the things that make the greatest GMs are talents, that cannot be taught. Others, however, are teachable and learnable skills.

Besides, we all know this guy is the TRUE master.

1. The Balance.

The first thing that I feel I do well in my home campaigns is careful attention to a balance between two elements of gaming that sometimes interfere with each other. The “roleplaying” and the “game.” I've been a player in campaigns where one is emphasized to the neglect of the other, and personally, those sorts of games aren't fun for me. Taking either element to its logical extreme conclusion and you have something that most people wouldn't find fun. All game, no roleplaying sacrifices theme and story for tactical combats without context or meaning, die rolls determine life or death, effective tactics minimize risk and there is a simulation-level resource management. If a “character” dies, it doesn't matter, roll a new one and get back in there. All roleplaying and no game makes character decisions only meaningful in the context of interpersonal relationships. Combats are loosely scripted affairs with no reasonable risk of death unless the player is clearly choosing to make a noble sacrifice, and a trip into town may involve hours of conversations with shopkeepers and locals, making the game more an exercise in collaborative improvised storytelling.

Yes, GMs have Godlike power in their game. Abuse them, and players may "vote with their feet."

The first example is how many of the first tabletop roleplayers played, evoking the wargaming roots of the hobby, and the second is the rule for online forum roleplay. I do not mean to say either of these styles are worthless or that one is inherently superior to the other. It isn't a choice of one extreme vs the other, with the very best gamemasters, a blend and balance of the two has created the best gaming experiences of my life, and I strive to pass that on to players. In general, I make combats meaningful by making the vast majority of my rolls behind the screen stand, and if I need to fudge a roll, I do so very rarely and without letting the players know. I fudge rolls if and only if allowing random chance to stand “as rolled” would make the experience less fun for everyone. A spectacular critical hit from a nameless henchman putting a hero into an early grave scenes before he confronts his personal nemesis might be fudged, but ignoring dice rolls too often makes them all meaningless. Don't be the GM who bends rules to pound the PCs into the dirt, and bends them again to let them win. Players know when you are doing that, and resent it.

2. Roleplaying is a Group Activity.

I've been in a lot of games where there's that one player who insists on creating an obstinate character whose personal goals and outlook frequently cause chaos and dysfunction within the team of other players. I've seen GMs throw their hands up in frustration, not knowing what to do, and a table full of uncomfortable players. After all, the player is “just playing my character, doing what he would do,” so no one can fault him for it, right? Bad advice in this situation labels this individual as a problem player off the bat and recommends eventually asking the player to leave the group. Sometimes, this is regrettably the case, but I've found that such extreme measures are rarely necessary. I've corrected this with a particular speech I give at the beginning of most of my campaigns. The “Group Activity” speech has been given so many times that my regulars don't even need it anymore. It is understood.

The group is a mercenary unit of gritty bounty hunters? Excellent.
My character for this campaign will be... a pacifist.

Basically, I concede that no one can fault someone for playing a character honestly and accurately to their core concept. However, fault can be found in the creation of a character whose outlook and goals will inevitably create conflict and strife, and whose personal philosophy allows for no growth as a person, compromise or change. Roleplaying is a group activity, and the fun for a single player of creating a situation that is all about a clash of their characters personal ideology and goals with the rest of the group should not trump the fun for the other players in that group. An understanding that conflicts within a team may naturally arise as characters develop is one thing, and can provide great scenes if played by mature players resolving a difference of opinion. Making a character who is unsuited philosophically or psychologically to belong to a group working toward a goal is not appropriate for a group activity such are roleplaying in all but the rarest of circumstances. Players in my games keep that in mind before the first word or number is written on a character sheet.

3. Plan to Improvise.

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” Every GM who has assumed players would go a certain direction and they immediately seized on the opposite one knows this. Some respond by railroading the players and seizing the illusion of control of their own destinies from the player's hands. This is not fun. One of the strengths of tabletop roleplaying is being able to determine your character's fate, and do what you want, rather than following someone else's script. Knowing that the players will knock you for a loop now and again, a lot of preparatory work can be done to shore up an individual gamemaster's improvisational weaknesses. I have a list of names ready that are unsassigned to any NPC so when they introduce themselves to a throwaway NPC I create on the spot, they don't immediately know that character is unimportant as I struggle for a name off the top of my head.

You want to... talk to the goblin? Okay... His name is... erm... "Bob...lin."

So long as the player group has a concrete goal to work toward to avoid a paradox of choice, and whatever a GM might need to make up, but would personally struggle with on the spot is prepared in advance, there is a lot of fun to be had with letting the players have some control over the flow of the action. Have a few villains statted out, maybe a few maps of locations to be dropped in ready, focus on having the hard stuff to make up on the fly in front of you, and making up the rest by the seat of your pants is easy, and a lot of fun. The limits imposed by a prewritten scenario are gone, and the story can flow purely based on reactions to player decisions.

Whew. This one turned out to be longer than I thought it'd be. I'll refer anyone following these threads for the “Build a Better GM” Workshop back to the links at Hill Cantons, and I also recommend reading articles over at Gnome Stew, and the books Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering, and Nightmares of Mine, by Kenneth Hite (if you can find an affordable copy, it is the finest advice available to horror GMs.)

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Blog Gadgets

Domain is the Name of the Game – Kingdoms and Towns in RPGs

I've always been fascinated by the concept of community building in roleplaying games. I'm not talking about building a community of players, though I've certainly been through all that in the last two decades. I'm talking about the incorporation of elements traditionally left to strategy computer games like Civilization into the tabletop rpg. Early editions of D&D had sketchy notes on the concepts of followers and strongholds, indicating that a transition to a position of rulership over a kingdom was a goal of high level play. My personal largest design project was the initial structure and mechanics for the Living Greyhawk Town Project. Written for the Living Campaign's Illinois and Indiana region of the Viscounty of Verbobonc initially, long after development of my rules passed from my hands, the system spread. Before long, players nationwide were sinking character gold and personal creativity into building and growing a village for PCs and NPCs to call home. The notion of domain-level play continues to fascinate me, and the inspiration for a flurry of design has eluded me since I wrote most of the Town Building rules in a single feverish night.

Screenshot from Majesty 2. I kind of want to do this, only not limited to fantasy, and in a Tabletop RPG.

What is domain play? Simply put, it is characters in control of something larger than their personal characters and a small group of henchmen. Whether that means a town, a kingdom, a temple, guild or street gang, there are events that must be endured and responded to, resources to be collected and power structures to be built. One of the most well known examples of domain play is the AD&D Birthright Campaign setting, which was interesting on its surface, but failed to catch on, as suiting the management of a kingdom to individual play groups felt unwieldy. It almost felt as though Birthright was two games, one a strategic solo play that felt almost like a board game, and another that cobbled the rulers of the local kingdom, temple, wizard's guild and thieves guild to adventure together somehow. DMs were confused by how, specifically to structure the narrative of their campaign to have both the dungeon exploration and roleplaying mix with the micromanagement and politics of the domain turn.

Domain gaming isn't unique to Dungeons and Dragons, either. The Lodge rules in the Savage Worlds setting Rippers that I recently wrote about are a very abstract and simple example of this style of gaming. TORG had a set of mechanics for player controlled megacorporations competing in economic warfare with hostile takeovers, market manipulation and stock splits that most likely only interested a tiny sliver of gamers that includes me. I'm fascinated by the idea of a system that incorporates gathering of materials, building defenses and infrastructure and establishing trade to watch a player-built organization flourish. Every rule set I've encountered has either been too abstract and mechanically murky, or has otherwise seemed half-finished. The best of these rules have been complicated, requiring a lot of bookkeeping and end up feeling like a separate game that is tacked on to an RPG.

I've met so many people who read and loved the idea of this boxed set.
No one who actually played it.

There are some examples of domain play in more recent gaming systems, but I know only enough about them to list them here. Green Ronin's A Song of Ice and Fire RPG, based on Martin's books includes rules on managing a character's own House in the Game of Thrones, an essential aspect of the setting, in my opinion. Goodman Games also recently published the D&D 4^th Edition supplement Crime Pays, which handles a fantasy take on running criminal organizations. What little I've gotten to see from Crime Pays amounts to a pretty decent little set of rules for managing anything from a street gang through a thieves' guild or a player-controlled Mafia complete with bribing officials, assigning specific crimes and getting involved in wars for territory. I'm currently grappling with whether or not I need to add this to my collection of domain gaming books I am unlikely to use, but which I really like the idea of.

Smaller publishers and fan-supported projects have gotten into the act as well, with standouts being Greg Stoltze's REIGN system for the ORE (One Roll Engine) system, available as either print-on-demand or downloadable PDF with a pile of supplements licensed under Creative Commons ready to download from his website. The strength of the Reign system is in random generation of power groups with conflicting goals and a streamlined system for resolving conflicts between them. Currently under production and in beta-testing is the Borderlands domain game for D&D OSR (Old-School Rules) being written and refined over at the blog Hill Cantons. I've seen the preview of the Table of Contents, and I'm looking forward to checking out the finished product when it is ready for public consumption beyond those few lucky groups who can commit to a full playtest.

I recommend looking into the setting and deciding if the setting info is necessary for
your game if you want to try this, otherwise there is a cheaper edition without it out there.

I still daydream about being able to run a game where city construction and management is as integral to the play as delving into dungeons and trade, diplomacy and resource management have to be mastered as well as the sword. I'd love to play a tabletop RPG where the management of an organization works without endless charts and bookkeeping. Maybe one of the existing systems I haven't tried or don't know about will fill this need to mashup computer strategy gaming with my tabletop roleplaying. Maybe not. I was pretty much the perfect target audience for the indie RPG Recettear, imported from Japan on Steam and focusing on running an item shop in a little fantasy village. I still load up and play X-Com: UFO Defense and Jagged Alliance. I'd just like a little more building bases, running guilds, expanding the territory of my character's street gang and successfully building a community in my games. Anyone know how?

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Rippers – A “Cyberpunk” Twist on Victorian Horror Adventuring for Savage Worlds

This coming weekend, I'm getting back to running one of my very favorite tabletop RPG campaigns. I've talked about Savage Worlds before, but in preparation for my review of the new edition of the core rules that released at Gen Con, I want to give one setting in particular the full treatment, rather than the mentions in passing it has warranted in previous articles. I've described Rippers many times as “Van Helsing meets the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, if either of those movies had been good.” It is a monster hunting and slaying take on Victorian Horror gaming, but with an emphasis on action and adventure over experiencing fear. The twist on the setting is the “Rippertech,” a sort of unholy science that implants parts of defeated monsters into heroes who need the extra “edge” to oppose the forces of evil. This mixture of weird science and supernatural power is at the center of the Rippers setting, and it lends a little dash of cyberpunk to what might otherwise be Victorian Horror by the numbers.

Lots of werewolves, vampires, and other classic movie monsters here to be fought and stripped for parts.

The setting holds that there is a gathering darkness, and that werewolves, vampires and Count Dracula himself are very real. Exposure to these beasts usually means death for the unwary, but the mysterious Dr. Jack found not only that the beasts had weaknesses, but that their power could be turned against them. The creation of potions, powders and implants called Rippertech was pioneered by Dr. Jack and some of the greatest minds of a generation including Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Dr. Moreau and Dr. Henry Jekyll. An organization using Rippertech, blessed prayers, sorcery, mentalism and good old-fashioned weaponry to destroy the growing supernatural menace was founded with Dr. Jack and his good friend Abraham Van Helsing at its head. That is, until Dr. Jack went mad along with his best students, and they defected to the other side, organizing an army of monsters and depraved cultists into the Shadowy Cabal.

The Rippers is comprised of seven Factions, six major and one minor. The Rosicrucians practice Enochian sorcery and have turned from the study of Rippertech as they saw what it did to their founder – Dr. Jack “The Ripper.” The Brotherhood of St. George also eschews the technology, as a loose organization of religious figures around the world who trust in spiritual power. The Old Worlders are Led by Jonathan and Mina Harker, and they watch over central Europe, the traditional seats of power for Vampires and Werewolves. The Witch Hunters focus on tracking and destroying cultists and evil magicians and are led by the puritannical Serious Chapel. The Slayers are the faction that is most likely to use Rippertech, originally a society of Vampire Hunters led by Van Helsing. The Masked Crusaders are a group of costumed adventurers and gadgeteers, mostly American, led by The Yankee. Finally, there is the small group called Frazer's Fighters, who are based in Egypt, holding back the mummies and other terrors from the sands.

A typical Ripper hero, complete with strap-on Wolverine claws,
in case the Hugh Jackman/Van Helsing connection was lost on anyone.

One of the other unique things about this setting is the creation and maintenance of the player's Lodge, which is founded after a few sessions of play (at Seasoned Rank, for those who know the system.) A base of operations is selected and outfitted with various facilities and staff, and the monthly maintenance of this “home base” is financed through wealthy patrons, some of whom may be the play characters themselves. Each of the areas that can be improved has in-game benefits and many missions will be dedicated to staffing or securing funding for the local Lodge. The Lodge also comes into play with the Take Back the Night strategic system which handles what all the NPCs recruited to the cause are doing in the long-term struggle against the Cabal. NPCs may fight and die to hold back the darkness, or in their triumph, it may be defeated, so that the scope of the Lodge's responsibilies may be increased beyond the local level.

The book comes with a Plot Point campaign and a system for allowing the players to direct what happens next, whether they want to hunt for a monster for better Rippertech, recruit new members, or handle social obligations to keep the coffers full. Victorian morality and status are modeled in points that are easy to lose for being seen carrying weapons or being rude when in the view of “those who matter,” and hard to regain (you can marry well, or attempt to gain the notice of Royalty.) The small adventure tempates are designed to be slotted in at GM discretion, like many plot point campaigns, a little improvisational ability is needed to fully make use of the material and give up some of the control over what happens next to the players. The group will travel the world, from London to Egypt, through Prague and Germany to the United States and beyond. A campaign will cover years of great change, wars and revolutions and a World's Fair held in Chicago. Society engagements or border crossings can be just as fraught with danger as fangs and claws on a foggy night, as the main plot has the heroes tracking down their Organization's missing leader, Abraham Van Helsing.

Cover Art from the Rippers setting/campaign book.

There are full-length adventures and a companion sourcebook available on RPGNow and Drive-Thru RPG as PDFs, and I highly recommend the companion for rules on Gypsy Curse magic, a revised Take Back the Night system and the Frazer's Fighters rules at a minimum, plus lots of new rippertech, items, monsters and adventures to flesh out a campaign. My personal home group consists of a Scottish Lord, a female Tomb Raider/Egyptologist, a German Rippertech Surgeon, a blind French Novice (Catholic Nun-in-training,) A Gadgeteer Hero with Electrical powers based on his work with Nicola Tesla, and a mysterious Gypsy Fortune-teller. (Yes, this particular gaming group is an even split, player gender-wise.) I highly recommend GMs who are interested in this setting to make a long list of named NPCs, as you'll need them to fill in when you have to fall back on a random adventure generator to not make the results bland and generic, and the NPC Rippers who achieve triumph or glory while Taking Back the Night are more dramatic with personalities and names.

If you like the idea of the setting, but aren't really into the tabletop RPG thing, there is a Facebook game, and a setting book for using the Savage Worlds combat system as a Miniatures Wargame, though the RPG and the minis sourcebook have little crossover outside of shared history and a few characters who have statistics as hero units. Personally, I'm perfectly happy with Rippers as a setting for a home campaign. I am getting a lot of use out of my Ravenloft Masque of the Red Death Materials for rounding out the alternate history aspects, and got to work in elements of the book “Devil in the White City” for our Lodge's trip to Chicago, an inevitability considering that is where we're all from.  Saturday Morning, we're back at it.

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Blog Gadgets

Roguelikes: The RPG Ancestors of Diablo. Free, Complex... and still relevant.

With the release of Diablo 3 on the horizon, I've done a lot of thinking. Some of it has been about the recent controversy regarding a persistent internet connection required for even single player, and the in-game shop where players can buy and sell in-game items for real money (Blizzard takes a cut, of course.) These issues are important to the geek community, but there is little I can say about those at this point that hasn't already been said many times by many other people. What the bulk of my thoughts has turned to is the history behind games like Diablo and Torchlight, from humble origins as games nearly as old as I am to the current state of massive releases that can inspire Geek Holy Wars like the one that rages on as we speak. Before there was Diablo, there was Nethack, and before there was Nethack, there was Rogue. These early descendents form a subgenre of RPG gaming on computers that is easily overlooked, which is a shame, because nearly every game in the category is free.

Rogue, text symbols only edition. I played this on my Palm Pilot years ago.

Rogue is remembered for giving the name to the category of RPG that it spawned, though when it released in 1980 it wasn't actually the first in its subgenre. The “roguelike” games are characterized by permanent character death, turn-based movement, typically text, ASCII or simple tile-based graphics, and randomly generated content for maximum replayability. “Random” is sort of a misnomer, as a truly random dungeon would inevitably have unplayable features like rooms with no possible way through, stairs or doors that go nowhere, etc. A more correct term is “procedurally generation” where content is randomized with a pre-set series of rules in mind making the dungeons and their inhabitants playable, if not necessarily “fair.” The first game in the roguelike genre was on the Apple II in 1978, called Beneath Apple Manor. It is worth mentioning that neither of the men developing Beneath Apple Manor or Rogue knew about each others' projects while making their games.

Early roguelikes were different from purely text-based dungeoneering games in that they had graphics, after a fashion. Symbols drew out rooms, the player was represented by the “@” symbol, and all manner of foul creatures from rats and slimes to vampires and medusae were typically represented by letters roaming the procedurally generated dungeons. Gold, food, armor, weapons, torches and magic items found in the dungeon all have their own symbols, and typically treasure is nearly as dangerous as the monsters. Items may be cursed, potions actually deadly poison, unidentified scrolls may have unpredictable effects... between the traps, creatures and rewards, sometimes the life of a character in a roguelike game is short and extremely unfair.

NetHack displaying a simple tileset translating the ASCII graphics to simple  image tiles.

Later games improved on the formula and added shops, more character options and depth to the gameplay. Angband, which was heavily influenced by Lord of the Rings, and Hack were early standouts for addition of new and fun features. Hack was followed up by NetHack (the Net added to refer to UseNet groups that distributed new versions of the game,) which enjoyed continued content updates from its original release in 1987 through 2003. In addition to refining the mechanics and systems behind this style of gaming, graphical tilesets became popular. A simple front-end could be added to the base game to translate ASCII symbols into specific graphical tiles to improve the graphics somewhat, though many players prefer the extreme “low-fi” option of playing without a tileset.

I'd be remiss in not mentioning a further offshoot of the roguelike genre that really deserves an article all its own. Dwarf Fortress (full title: Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress,) is, along with Infiniminer, the direct inspiration for Minecraft. Dwarf Fortress combines roguelike graphics, procedurally generated worlds and turn-based gameplay with city-building strategy in a uniquely complex and difficult game. Dwarves dig into the ground or mountains, fashion goods and living spaces, encounter and trade with or war upon other races, and have to deal with threats to survival that range from monsters to starvation and insanity. Someday, I'll be ready to give this game the sort of full writeup it deserves, but despite many hours of trying to get the hang of it, the learning curve has defeated me several times. I have time, however, as even though the game started development in 2004, the most recent update in March 2011 is still an early alpha stage of a game still being worked on.

Dwarf Fortress with a Tileset. Civilizations, trade, economy, even gravity
and erosion are modeled in this ludicrously detailed game.

Though I've played every game I've mentioned in this article with the exception of Beneath Apple Manor, there has been one in particular that has grabbed my attention. As I've said before, I love zombie gaming. Most roguelikes are fantasy, swords and wizards, but my current favorite doesn't have any of that. Rogue Survivor is a zombie apocalypse survival simulation where “treasure” is food, weapons, medical supplies, and fighting is necessary occasionally, but most of the time... you run and hide. There's a lot of work left to do on this game, but in its current state, it is a blast. Your survivor gets skills like “light eater” to consume less food, “hauler” to get extra inventory space, “leadership” to get others to follow, and you get a new skill each time the sun rises.

Rogue Survivor puts you against the constant threat of zombies, the need to scavenge for supplies and find a safe place to sleep. In addition to zombies, skeletons and zombie masters, players need to stay on their guard against biker gangs, other hungry survivors willing to murder for food and employees of the sinister CHAR Corporation. Exploring residences and stores can get some basic equipment, as can picking through what is left over by those unfortunate enough to be cornered and killed by undead. You can barricade buildings, explore the sewers, race to army supply drops when food gets short, hide your cache of goods from other scavengers... There is a lot of depth already in the unfinished version of the game available right now. My personal best time so far is 13 days, when my hardware store base was found by 2 zombie masters, a zombie lord and 5 shamblers and I died with an empty shotgun and six of the eight creatures at my feet.

A public park littered with corpses, a street with cars aflame, and a nearby
skeleton ready to attack in Rogue Survivor. 

Open source, free and infinitely replayable games with constant content updates that have inspired some of the greatest computer games of the current era. Roguelikes are unique in that the existence of the games they inspire doesn't make them obsolete, or any less fun. Most of them are labors of love from a single programmer/designer or a very small team, and I think that a lot of them will never be completely “done”. The time investment from character creation to probable death in a lot of these games is short, with the exception of dwarf fortress. These aren't 30 hour epics, but there's no padding to the content. It is pure, undiluted gameplay. You'll die and curse, and restart again. I'll play Diablo 3 when it comes out, but I'll almost certainly play my roguelikes long after I've become bored with it.

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Blog Gadgets

Project Zomboid and Dead State: Two different takes on zombie games for PC.

I love the zombie genre. I'm just gonna put that right out there. One of my favorite horror movies of all time is still the original Dawn of the Living Dead, and the popularity of the genre in recent film, TV and games is something that I relish. We're already starting to see the “Ugh, I'm so over Zombies...” hipster backlash, but long after zombies aren't the “hot” thing anymore, I'll still be into them. If I were to profile all of the video games about zombies, I could do a multi-week series of nothing but, testing my own assertion that I can't get sick of the topic. Instead, I want to talk a little bit about two games from small studios that have similar visions of a game about the zombie apocalypse, but intend to have very different executions in their finished projects.

An indie game worth supporting. The developers have already been through
a horror story nearly the equal of the one they are trying to tell, just to get this made.

First up is a game you can actually play, today... or at least a version of it. Project Zomboid, in development by The Indie Stone, is a survival game with equal parts isometric action/exploration and RPG elements, including a crafting system and (soon to be introduced) character classes. I was first introduced to the game via a thread on Reddit linking to articles over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. The game is being developed and sold using the same model Minecraft did, that is to say, you support the developers early and you get a copy of the game on the cheap while it is still being worked on. I got in early on Minecraft and was intrigued by the vision the devs had for their final product, so I happily jumped at the chance to get in on the ground floor.

From the beginning, Project Zomboid tells you the philosophy of the kind of story it wants to tell. This isn't the story of brave survivors who shotgun blast and eat canned goods until they are safe and a cure is found, or the military sweeps in and saves everyone. This is the story of the struggle against an inevitable end. No matter what you do, how well you play or what paths you take, in the long run, the zombie apocalypse is total. This is not the story of how you survived. This is the story of how you died. The setting, and the “no one survives” concept may be bleak, but the human stories about how people treat each other and what sorts of decisions people have to make in order to survive are present from the very first pre-alpha tech demo release.

Even with great planning and plenty of supplies, when things go bad in Zomboid, they go BAD.

In the demo, you are Bob, a normal sort of balding middle-aged dude who has just escaped a group of survivors who turned on him and his wife and took all they had, and she broke her leg in the process of getting away. You are introduced to basic first aid, inventory management, scavenging for food and supplies while hiding from the horde, some item crafting and combat with both zombies and hostile survivors. Buildings can be barricaded, supplies scavenged, and you can, at the moment, deal with various needs like hunger, need for rest, panic and pain management. The basic gameplay is reminiscent of a version of The Sims with more RPG elements and where most of the other Sims are trying to eat you. I look forward to seeing what this game will look like in six months or a year, as I'm impressed with what I've seen so far.

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The other game is one that I've been looking forward to for a very long time, and shares a lot on its surface with Project Zomboid, but focuses on different things and should provide a very different experience. Dead State, still in development by Doublebear Productions (release date of "when its done",) is a game with its focus built around the maintenance of a safehouse, adding other characters to the group of survivors and dealing with the crises that come with being cooped up together. NPCs may be found “in the wild,” and depending on the circumstances of your meeting, may be cautious, friendly or hostile on different playthroughs. The focus in a lot of the development journals is on making a LOT of NPCs, and fleshing them out as characters.

Zombies might think I meant something different by "fleshed out" NPCs.

Where Zomboid seems to take gameplay inspiration from The Sims, Dead State seems to have grounded its philosophy in turn-based tactical RPGs like Jagged Alliance and Fallout 1&2. All combat will be using action points and turns rather than arcade action or real-time strategy rapid clicking, and in general, single zombies are only a problem if someone is surprised by them. Running into other hostile and armed survivors while scavenging for basic needs, and the very real danger of a firefight attracting many dozens of zombies will present the real challenges. Morale and fright will also impact how perfectly survivors follow the orders they are given, as someone who doesn't trust in your leadership to being with may behave unpredictably when panicked.

In terms of building trust, one of the most interesting things is the events and NPC concerns while living in the safehouse, that remind me of old political sim games that frequently ask the player to make policy decisions. When someone who commands a lot of respect among the other survivors starts asking for an unfair ration of food, do you agree and risk people becoming upset when they find out... or do you say “No special favors,” knowing they will undermine your leadership later in casual conversation with others? Dealing with others who become selfish, mentally unstable, ill or injured... or just think they'd be a better leader than you are is what makes me want to play this game. Now.

Managing people's respect for you in moments of crisis looks like it will be key.

Both of these games have taken the "zombie as target practice" and "blast your way to freedom" out of the equation, and I like this more thoughtful approach to the genre. Not that I don't enjoy shooting zombies in the games that do it best, but I've played that already.  The personal horror of making terrible decisions in order to survive, wondering if everyone hates you or fears you because of what you did... Zombie films are about people, not zombies, and I'll be happy to play a few different takes on games developed with that in mind.

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